This editorial originally appeared in the February 20, 1998 issue of the Boston Phoenix.

It's ironic that Mayor Thomas Menino’s administration, which fought hard to win approval for a convention center in order to bolster Boston’s status as a major-league metropolis, has proven to be so inhospitable to the city’s hospitality business. There is, after all, more to this town than the Freedom Trail and the Citgo sign.

Every industry of any size likes to think of itself as indispensable to the city’s fabric. Over the past 30 years, the city’s restaurants, clubs, and bars have multiplied and matured, helping to transform Boston from a placid provincial hub into a vital, sophisticated, but still very livable city.

Talk to the people who orchestrate Boston’s nightlife, and many will say they feel anything but appreciated. Though self-interest may fuel their furor, they nevertheless make a compelling case that City Hall seems bent on squeezing the life out of Boston after dark. The complaints: inadequate parking coupled with a zealous brigade of parking police; cops and bureaucrats who enforce admittedly important operating and alcohol regulations with Kafkaesque intensity; and the threat of stricter regulations for 18-plus club shows, which are already too few in this college town.

No one doubts the mayor’s commitment to an orderly and safe city. But this is the stuff of tinhorn puritanism, not a world-class municipal administration. Now comes a sweeping proposal from the mayor himself: a plan requiring eating and drinking establishments to provide a physically separate area for smokers — or ban smoking altogether. As it now stands, the plan would literally require construction of a wall between patrons.

The initiative appears to come out of nowhere. City councilors were surprised, as were restaurant and bar owners. There has been no public clamor for a ban. But those close to Menino say that he is a committed nonsmoker who, together with his public health commissioner, David Mulligan, has been contemplating such a move for some time.

There is no compelling reason for this kind of far-reaching change. The ratio of smoking seats to nonsmoking ones already tilts heavily in favor of those who don’t smoke. Some establishments ban smoking entirely. And the few that do cater to more tobacco-loving crowds still obey government guidelines. Choices abound for diners. The market has done a good job of adjusting itself to the needs and wants of Bostonians.

At the heart of the mayor’s plan is a concern for the well-being of food and beverage workers. Exposure to secondhand smoke endangers their health, he argues. Yet the evidence is questionable. Several years ago the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared that secondhand smoke causes cancer. Reputable congressional investigators questioned those results. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which polices the nation’s workplaces, has yet to take a stand.

In the years since the Surgeon General issued his report declaring smoking a health hazard, the number of places that allow smoking has been shrinking. Smokers may now be in a minority, but they still represent a sizable minority. And that rankles those who want to tell others how to live their lives.

On fire It’s rare to read or hear anything in any of the media that’s not in lockstep with the Public Health Commission and the movement it represents.

Drugs and culture University of Southern Maine professor Wendy Chapkis usually studies, teaches, and writes about gender issues, so her latest non-fiction outing, Dying to Get High: Marijuana as Medicine , might seem like a bit of a departure.

Going to pot The state's medical-marijuana laws, which govern how patients can access pot for medical purposes, is on the brink of significant change.

Hey, hey, we're the Monkees The law of averages says if you put 100 monkeys in a room with 100 computers, they'll eventually write a workable national health-care bill. Apparently, that rule doesn't apply to 100 US senators.

Snowe: A party of one US Senator Olympia Snowe has maneuvered herself into a position where she is the only hope Democrats have of getting a "bipartisan" agreement on healthcare reform.

The waiting game We know, we know: Last week, Olympia Snowe made history by being the only Republican in 2009 to vote for any sort of healthcare reform, even in committee-level draft language far from its final form.

Politics of pain When it comes to the legalization of medical marijuana in Rhode Island, the question has generally been when — not if — it would happen.

Whole Foods health-care boycott gathers momentum Unfortunately for Whole Foods Market CEO and founder John Mackey, those who appreciate his store for the healthy, eco-friendly (read: left-leaning, progressive) lifestyle it promotes are the same citizens who support universal health care.

MERCY AND SAL DIMASI | March 13, 2013 When it comes to showing a modicum of mercy to some of those convicted of federal crimes, Barack Obama is shaping up to have the worst track record of any president in recent memory.

NEXT, MARRIAGE EQUALITY | March 05, 2013 On March 27 and 28, the US Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in two cases that could essentially put America on the road to full marriage equality.

THUS SPAKE MARKEY | February 26, 2013 Last week, Congressman Ed Markey inadvertently injected some daring political thinking and a touch of historical imagination into the race to fill the US Senate seat vacated by John Kerry's appointment as secretary of state.

DRONES: 10 THOUGHTS | February 20, 2013 Foreign drone attacks are almost (but not quite yet) as American as apple pie.